(Newser)
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The burgeoning space mining industry might be short lived if Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Martin Elvis' calculations are correct. Elvis has just released a study estimating that just 10 near-Earth asteroids could be mined cost effectively, the BBC reports. Elvis assumed that miners would want to grab M-type rocks, the iron-nickel ones most likely to contain platinum-group metals, and that they wouldn't be interested in asteroids smaller than 100 meters.

Elvis also pointed out that just identifying those asteroids would be valuable—and difficult. In a follow-up study, he calculated that to find just one ore-bearing asteroid, you'd need to probe two dozen, Mining.com reports. But Planetary Resources, the most prominent space mining startup, isn't daunted, saying Elvis made some false assumptions; they'll be going after C-class asteroids, for example. "I think the study is probably off by a factor of 100, conservatively, and I think it's off by a factor of 1,000 optimistically," one co-founder said. (Read more Planetary Resources stories.)

Well I think right off the bat most space mining advocates wouldn't agree that M-Class asteroids are the only ones worth mining. S-Class and C-Class asteroids are being looked at more in the industry; they hold plenty of valuable minerals and they also contain water which would be very useful as fuel and other commodities. Further, I've seen a different scientific study that identified 12 asteroids that could be mined with today's technology just by nudging them closer to Earth. The fact remains that every cell phone, every computer, every high tech equipment, begins its life in a mine. If we are going to continue advancement into tech, we need to source the minerals to do so. Why not get those resources from a place without an environment, instead of ours.

isitdoneyet

Jan 14, 2014 3:19 PM CST

Send Bruce Willis, he has experienced mining on asteroids.

JoeQ

Jan 14, 2014 11:33 AM CST

I'd say he's right on, or if anything optimistic. For the most part asteroids came from dust, just like meteorites. There's no process for big bits of platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium to form, just small amounts.